William Spurlin

Before coming to Brunel, William was Professor of English at the University of Sussex, where he directed the Centre for the Study of Sexual Dissidence and Cultural Change for five years. Prior to his appointment at Sussex, he taught at Cardiff University, Columbia University, and Illinois State University.

Situated at the nexus of queer studies, postcolonial studies, and critical and cultural theory, William’s interdisciplinary research encompasses the analysis of a broad range of literary, cultural, and critical texts spanning from the fin de siècle to the 20th and 21st centuries.

The texts with which he works cross national, geographic, and linguistic boundaries and include British and American texts, and those located within francophone and Germanic cultures, southern Africa, and the wider African diaspora. His recent work has contributed to the formulation of new theoretical thinking at the conjunction of postcolonial and queer enquiry.

Research Overview

William' s  interdisciplinary research in queer studies, postcolonial studies, and critical/cultural theory encompasses the analysis of a broad range of literary, cultural, and critical texts ranging from the fin de siècle through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Trained in comparative literature and critical theory, the texts with which  he works cross national, geographic, and linguistic boundaries and include not only British and American texts, but those located within francophone and Germanic cultures, southern Africa, and the wider African diaspora.  His recent work, particularly  his book Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representation and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa (2006), funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities and a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Cape Town, has contributed to the formulation new theoretical thinking at the nexus of postcolonial and queer enquiry.  His latest monograph, Lost Intimacies: Rethinking Homosexuality under National Socialism (2009), builds on his postcolonial work by focusing specifically on the interwar period, marked by the decline of European imperialism in the colonies and the simultaneous rise of totalitarianism within Europe, especially German fascism. This book examines the racialisation of homosexuality in another racist regime, that of National Socialism, which was also underwritten by a politics of gender and eugenics in a similar, but not reducible, way that it was under colonialism and apartheid in South Africa, and within some forms of postcolonial nationalism in Africa and elsewhere that continue to racialise homosexuality as a vestige of empire. This project was supported by a one-year sabbatical in 2004 whilst at Cardiff University and by a research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

William has published nearly fifty essays in queer studies, postcolonial studies, African and African-American studies, feminist theory, and comparative literature and culture.  He has  given invited lectures on his work in France; most recently at Univ de Paris XIII, at the Centre d' Études des Discours, Images, Textes, Écrits, et Communications at Univ de Paris XII, at the College International de Philosophie, and at the Sorbonne, as well as  in South Africa, Singapore, Europe, Canada, Australia, the United States, and other parts of the world. William has also lectured in medical/clinical contexts on queer theory and biomedical practice at NHS Trust-funded symposia on sexual health, and in medical research centres and hospitals, on topics pertaining to the cultural politics of biomedicine and sexuality, STIs, and HIV/AIDS care.  He chairs  the Comparative Gender Studies Committee at the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA), where he is also a member of the Executive Council.  He is  an appointed member of the Peer Review College at the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Peer Review College for Knowledge Transfer (AHRC), the Scientific Committee of the Centre pour les études des nouveaux espaces littéraires at Univ Paris XIII, the International Editorial Board for the Journal of Social Semiotics, and the Editorial Board for the French language journal Itinéraires: Littérature, Textes, Cultures. He reads for numerous academic journals, such as PMLA, African Studies Review, Journal for Cultural Research, Textual Practice, and Social Semiotics, as well as for many academic presses.

His  research has also addressed critically the pedagogical situation from the perspectives of cultural studies and queer theory. This work includes an edited volume Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and the Politics of Culture (2000) and an invited guest editorship of a special issue of the American journal College English on ' Lesbian and Gay Studies: Queer Pedagogies' in 2002. Both works attempt to engage (queer) difference as a means of enabling radical re-readings of the public space of the classroom through which to envision more participatory spheres of critical deliberation.  William continues to remain interested in, and dedicated to, this work both as a teacher and as a public intellectual, and he is especially concerned about the role of the humanities and queer studies in academic and public life. For his research and pedagogical contributions to excellence in teaching,  he was appointed as a Fellow  of the  Higher Education Academy in Britain in 2009.

Teaching Activity

PhD Supervision

William has supervised twelve PhD students to completion, many of whom held funded Fellowships in the UK and the US and  currently hold positions in institutions of Higher Education in the US, UK and around the world. Most recently, he has supervised and examined doctoral work in queer romanticism, queer Gothic, modernism/postmodernism and sexuality, South African literature and culture, postcolonial/queer, sexual identities of Malay men in contemporary Malaysian literature and culture, same-sex desire in contemporary English and Arabic literatures, and queering nationalism.
 
He would very much welcome research students working in queer studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies (with an emphasis on gender and/or queer), critical theory, African studies, comparative literature (with an emphasis on gender and/or queer), diaspora and migration (with an emphasis on gender and/or queer), or twentieth-century, modernist, or postmodern culture(s) more broadly.

Postgraduate Teaching

EN5532: Reading Cultures I

EN5533: Queer Theory

Undergraduate Teaching

EN3605: Modern & Contemporary Lesbian Literature

BOOKS
A. Monographs:
Spurlin, William J. Lost Intimacies: Rethinking Homosexuality under National Socialism. New York: Lang Publishing, 2009. xii + 168 pp.
----------------------. Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representation and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa. New York: Palgrave-USA, 2006. ix + 182 pp. Series in African Media and Cultural Studies.

B. Edited Volumes:
Hayes, Jarrod, Margaret Higonnet, and William J. Spurlin, eds. Comparatively Queer: Interrogating Identity across Time and Cultures. New York: Palgrave-USA, 2010. viii + 234 pp

Spurlin, William J., ed. Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2000. xxxiii + 326 pp.

Osborne, Karen Lee and William J Spurlin, eds. Reclaiming the Heartland: Lesbian and Gay Voices from the Midwest. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. xxv + 227 pp.

Spurlin, William J. and Michael Fischer, eds. The New Criticism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Connections and Continuities. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1995. xxix + 432 pp.Wellesley Studies in Critical Theory, Literary History, and Culture.

II. Recent Papers in International Journals and Book Chapters
"Resisting Heteronormativity/Resisting Recolonisation: Affective Bonds between Indigenous Women in Southern Africa and the Difference(s) of Postcolonial Feminist History." Feminist Review 95 (2010): 10-26. Special issue: Transforming Academies and Theorizing the ‘First Wave’ Globally.

"Sexual/Cultural Hybridity in the 'New' South Africa: Emergent Sites of Transnational Queer Politics." Gendering Border Studies. Eds. Henrice Atlink, Chris Weedon, and Jane Aaron. Cardiff: University of Wales Press/Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. 208-221.

"Postcolonial/Queer and the 'New' South Africa: HIV/AIDS and Emerging Queer Transnational Politics.' Special Issue: "Sexe et Genre/Sex and Gender." Guest Editor Frédéric Regard. Études Anglaises 61.3 (2008): 360-370.

«'Rein bleiben und reif werden!' La racialisation du désir homoérotique sous le Nationale Socialisme ». Queer: Écritures de la différence? Autres temps, autres lieux. Ed. Pierre Zoberman. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2008. 153-162.

« Pour un nouveau tracé des frontières du littéraire et du politique: politique textuelle/sexuelle dans la «Nouvelle» Afrique du Sud ». La littérature a-t-elle un espace? Eds. Xavier Garnier et Pierre Zoberman. Paris: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes (Université de Paris VIII), 2006. 97-112.

"'I'd Rather Be the Princess than the Queen!': Mourning Diana as a Gay Icon." Queer Theory. Eds. Iain Morland and Annabelle Willox. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005. 158-170; 208-210. Readers in Cultural Criticism Series. [Revised and reprinted]

"Rethinking the Politics of Race, Gender, and Sexuality: The Critical Reception of Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain in the Cold War Imaginary and in US Black Nationalism." Special Issue: "Go Tell It on the Mountain: 50 Years Later." MAWA Review 19.1 (Summer 2004): 58-70.

"Theorizing Queer Pedagogy in English Studies after the 1990s." College English 65 (September 2002): 9-16.
Guest Editor. Special Issue: "Lesbian and Gay Studies/Queer Pedagogies." College English 65 (September 2002): 9-95.

"Broadening Postcolonial Studies/Decolonizing Queer Studies: Emerging `Queer' Identities and Cultures in Southern Africa." Postcolonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections. Ed. John Hawley. Albany: State University of New York (SUNY) Press, 2001. 185-205.

"Willa Cather." Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History. Vol. I: From Antiquity to World War II. Eds. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon. New York: Routledge, 2001. 89-91. Reprinted, 2nd ed. (pbk), 2002.

"Gertrude Stein." Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History. Vol. I: From Antiquity to World War II. Eds. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon. New York: Routledge, 2001. 419-421. Reprinted, 2nd ed. (pbk), 2002.

"Audre Lorde." Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History. Vol. II: From World War II to the Present Day. Eds. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon. New York: Routledge, 2001. 250-251. Reprinted, 2nd ed. (pbk), 2002.

"Adrienne Rich." Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History. Vol. II: From World War II to the Present Day. Eds. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon. New York: Routledge, 2001. 351-352. Reprinted, 2nd ed. (pbk), 2002. [Translated into Serbo-Croatian on Gay-Serbia/Gej-Srbija.com: Serbia.com/queer/rich-adrienne/index.jsp]

"Remapping Same-Sex Desire: Queer Writing and Culture in the American Heartland." De-Centring Sexualities: Identity, Textuality, and Space. Eds. Richard Phillips, David Shuttleton, and Diane Watt. London: Routledge, 2000. 182-198.

"Queer Studies/English Studies." Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics. Ed. William J. Spurlin. Urbana, IL: NCTE 2000. xiii-xxxiii.

"Culture, Rhetoric, and Gay Identity: James Baldwin and the Identity Politics of Race and Sexuality." James Baldwin Now. Ed. Dwight A. McBride. New York: New York University Press, 1999. 103-121.

"Queer Identity and Racial Alienation: The Politics of Race and Sexuality in James Baldwin and in the `New' South Africa." Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap 15.1-2 (June 1999): 218-237.

"'I'd Rather Be the Princess than the Queen': Mourning Diana as a Gay Icon." Mourning Diana: Nature, Culture and the Performance of Grief. Eds. Adrian Kear and Deborah L. Steinberg. New York: Routledge, 1999. 155-168.

"Sissies and Sisters: Gender, Sexuality and the Possibilities of Political Coalition." Coming Out of Feminism? Eds. Mandy Merck, Naomi Segal, and Elizabeth Wright. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 1998. 74-101.
'Literature'-Desire-Psychoanalysis: Queer Identity and the Politics of Cultural and Clinical Representation." Dinâmicas da Subjectividade. Ed. Frederico Pereira. Lisbon: Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada Press, 1997. 107-121.

"Transgressing Boundaries: James Baldwin and the Identity Politics of Race and Sexuality." Fissions and Fusions: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Cape American Studies Association. Eds. Lesley Marx, Loes Nas, and Lara Dunwell. Cape Town, South Africa: University of the Western Cape Press, 1997. 46-55.
"Rhetorical Hermeneutics and Gay Identity Politics: Rethinking American Cultural Studies." Reconceptualizing American Literary/Cultural Studies: Rhetoric, History, and Politics in the Humanities. Ed. William E. Cain. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1996. 169-183.

"Introduction: What?! Queers in the Midwest?" Reclaiming the Heartland: Lesbian and Gay Voices from the Midwest. Eds. Karen Lee Osborne and William J. Spurlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. xi-xxv.

"Introduction: The New Criticism in Contemporary Theory." The New Criticism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Connections and Continuities. Eds. William J. Spurlin and Michael Fischer. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1995. xvii-xxix.

"New Critical and Reader-Oriented Theories of Reading: Shared Views on the Role of the Reader." The New Criticism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Connections and Continuities. Eds. William J. Spurlin and Michael Fischer. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1995. 229-245.

"Afterword: An Interview with Cleanth Brooks." The New Criticism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Connections and Continuities. Eds. William J. Spurlin and Michael Fischer. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1995. 365-383.

"(Homo-) Sexuality and (Post-) Analytic Theory: Gay and Lesbian Subjectivity as a Site of Cultural Struggle." Literature and Psychology (Summer 1994): 167-174.

"Questioning the Subject: Reading, Identity Construction, and Psychoanalytic Theories of Subjectivity." Literature and Psychology (Summer 1993): 17-24.

"Theorizing Signifyin(g) and the Role of the Reader: Possible Directions for African-American Literary Criticism." College English 52 (November 1990): 732-742.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2010) Spurlin, WJ., Review of Heterosexual Africa? The History of an Idea from the Age of Exploration to the Age of AIDS by Marc Epprecht, African Studies Review: the journal of the African Studies Association 53 (3) : 159- 162

(2010) Spurlin, WJ., Resisting heteronormativity/resisting recolonisation: Affective bonds between indigenous women in southern Africa and the difference(s) of postcolonial feminist history, Feminist Review 95 10- 26

(2008) Spurlin, WJ., Postcolonial/Queer and the 'New' South Africa: HIV/AIDS and Emerging Queer Transnational Politics, Etudes Anglaises 61 (3) : 360- 370

(2004) Spurlin, WJ., Rethinking the politics of race, gender, and sexuality: The critical reception of Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain in the cold war imaginary and in US black nationalism, MAWA Review 19 (1) : 58- 70

(2002) Spurlin, WJ., Theorizing queer pedagogy in english studies after the 1990s, College English 65 (1) : 9- 16

(1999) Spurlin, WJ., Queer identity and racial alienation: The politics of race and sexuality in James Baldwin and in the “New” South Africa, Journal of Literary Studies 15 (1-2 Special issue: American Studies) : 218- 237

(1994) Spurlin, WJ., (Homo-) sexuality and (Post-) analytic theory: Gay and lesbian subjectivity as a site of cultural struggle, Literature and Psychology (Summer 1994) : 167- 174

(1993) Spurlin, WJ., Questioning the subject: Reading, identity construction, and psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity, Literature and Psychology (Summer 1993) : 17- 24

(1990) Spurlin, WJ., Theorizing signifyin(g) and the role of the reader: Possible directions for African-American literary criticism, College English 52 (7) : 732- 742

Book Chapters

(2010) Hayes, Jarrod., Higonnet, Margaret R. and Spurlin, William J., Comparing Queerly, Queering Comparison: Theorizing Identities 'In Between' Cultures, Histories, and Disciplines. In: Hayes, Jarrod., Higonnet, Margaret R. and Spurlin, William J. eds. Comparatively Queer: Interrogating Identity across Time and Cultures. New York : Palgrave MacMillan USA 1- 19

(2010) Spurlin, WJ., Sexual/Cultural Hybridity in the 'New' South Africa: Emergent Sites of Transnational Queer Politics. In: Aaron, Jane., Atlink Henrice. and Weedon, Chris. eds. Gendering Border Studies. Cardiff/Chicago : University of Wales Press/University of Chicago Press 208- 221

(2009) Spurlin, WJ., The Politics of Sexual Difference in the 'New' South Africa: Postcolonial Queer Theory and/as Comparative Inquiry. In: Mildonian, Paola. ed. Á Partir de Venise: Héritage, Passages, Horizons: Cinquante ans de l'AILC/It Started in Venice: Legacies, Passages, Horizons: Fifty Years of ICLA. Venice : Liberia Editrice Cafoscarina 587- 595

(2008) Spurlin, WJ., 'Rein bleiben und reif werden!' Nazisme et racialisation du désir homoérotique. In: Zoberman, P. ed. Queer: Écritures de la différence? Autres temps, autres lieux. Paris : L'Harmattan 153- 162

(2006) Spurlin, WJ., Pour un nouveau tracé des frontières du littéraire et du politique: Politique textuelle/sexuelle dans la 'Nouvelle' Afrique du Sud. In: Garnier, Xavier. and Zoberman, Pierre. eds. La littérature a-t-elle un espace?. Paris : Presses Universitaires de Vincennes (Paris VIII) 97- 112

(2005) Spurlin, WJ., 'I'd rather be the princess than the queen!': Mourning Diana as a gay icon. In: Morland, I. and Willox, A. eds. Queer theory (Readers in Cultural Criticism Series). Palgrave MacMillan 208- 210

(2002) Spurlin, WJ., 'I'd rather be the princess than the queen': Mourning Diana as a gay icon. In: Steinberg, DL. ed. Mourning Diana: Nation, Culture and the Performance of Grief. Routledge 155- 168

(2001) Spurlin, WJ., Adrienne Rich. In: Aldrich, R. and Wotherspoon, G. eds. Who's who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: From World War II to the present day. Routledge Press (2) : 351- 352

(2001) Spurlin, WJ., Broadening postcolonial studies/decolonizing queer studies: Emerging `queer' identities and cltures in Southern Africa. In: Hawley, JC. ed. Postcolonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections. State University of New York Press 185- 205

(2000) Spurlin, WJ., Gertrude Stein. In: Aldrich, R. and Wotherspoon, G. eds. Who's who in gay and lesbian history: From antiquity to World War II. Psychology Press (1) : 419- 421

(2000) Spurlin, WJ., Willa Cather. In: Aldrich, R. and Wotherspoon, G. eds. Who's who in gay and lesbian history: From antiquity to World War II. Routledge Press (1) : 89- 91

(2000) Spurlin, WJ., Audre Lorde. In: Aldrich, R. and Wotherspoon, G. eds. Who's who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: From World War II to the present day. Routledge Press (2) : 250- 251

(2000) Spurlin, WJ., Remapping same-sex desire: Queer writing and culture in the American heartland. In: Shuttleton, D., Watt, D. and Phillips, R. eds. De-centring sexualities: Politics and representations beyond the metropolis. Routledge 179- 197

(1999) Spurlin, WJ., Culture, rhetoric, and gay identity: James Baldwin and the identity politics of race and sexuality. In: McBride, DA. ed. James Baldwin now. NYU Press 103- 121

(1998) Spurlin, WJ., Sissies and sisters: Gender, sexuality and the possibilities of political coalition. In: Merck, M., Segal, N. and Wright, E. eds. Coming Out of Feminism?. Blackwell 74- 101

(1996) Spurlin, WJ., Introduction: What?! Queers in the Midwest?. In: Osborne, KL. ed. Reclaiming the heartland: Lesbian and gay voices from the mMidwest. University of Minnesota Press xi- xxv

(1996) Spurlin, WJ., Rhetorical Hermeneutics and Gay Identity Politics: Rethinking American Cultural Studies. In: Cain, William E. ed. Reconceptualizing American Literary/Cultural Studies: Rhetoric, History, and Politics in the Humanities. New York : Taylor & Francis 169- 183

(1995) Spurlin, WJ., Afterword: An interview with Cleanth Brooks. In: Spurlin, WJ. and Fischer, M. eds. The New Criticism and contemporary literary theory: Connections and Continuities. Taylor & Francis 365- 383

(1995) Spurlin, WJ., Introduction: The new criticism in contemporary theory. In: Spurlin, WJ. and Fischer, M. eds. The New Criticism and contemporary literary theory: Connections and Continuities. Taylor & Francis xvii- xxix

(1995) Spurlin, WJ., New critical and reader-oriented theories of reading: Shared views on the role of the reader. In: Spurlin, WJ. and Fischer, M. eds. The New Criticism and contemporary literary theory: Connections and Continuities. Taylor & Francis 229- 245

Books

(2010) Hayes, J., Spurlin, WJ. and Higonnet, MR., Comparatively Queer: Interrogating Identities and Cultures Across Time and Cultures. Palgrave MacMillan USA

(2009) Spurlin, WJ., Lost intimacies: Rethinking homosexuality under national socialism. Lang Publishing

(2006) Spurlin, WJ., Imperialism within the margins: Queer representation and the politics of culture in Southern Africa. Palgrave Macmillan

(2000) Spurlin, WJ., Lesbian and gay studies and the teaching of English: Positions, pedagogies, and cultural politics. National Council of Teachers of English

(1996) Osborne, KL. and Spurlin, WJ., Reclaiming the heartland: Lesbian and gay voices from the Midwest. University of Minnesota Press

(1995) Spurlin, WJ. and Fischer, M., The new criticism and contemporary literary theory: Connections and Continuities. Francis and Taylor